'Stingray' charging at man is a hoax

Spotting a stingray in the ocean can be a beautiful sight, but crossing paths with one is a bad idea, as one swimmer in Australia found out first hand ... or so we thought. Well, it seems the video is a hoax. But don't feel bad if you fell for it: we fell for it too.

NBC reported, "You see this guy trying to spook this creature by charging toward him ... initially the stingray seems frightened, gliding away from the guy, but as soon as he turns around he goes 'Hey! You want a piece of me? I'm comin' for ya! C'mon pal!'"

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The man was swimming along the Gold Coast in Australia when he decided he wanted to play charging bull. Instead of a rodeo, he was in the ocean, and instead of a bull, it was a stingray.

The video was uploaded to YouTube Saturday and several media outlets picked up the story. Some reporters left comments on YouTube asking to talk about the video.

Let's not forget about the marine biologists who talked about what type of stingray it probably was on Gold Coast Bulletin.

After all that, it turns out it's just one great dad joke.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the man was flying a kite with his daughter when they noticed the shadow looked like a stingray. He sent the video to three of his friends, and before he knew it, the video was taking the Internet by storm.

The man, who wants to remain anonymous, told the Herald in an email, "No kites were harmed in the making of the video."

Nope, just the dignity of news outlets, marine biologists, and all of us gullible folk who fell for what might go down as the best dad joke of the summer. Just in time for Father's Day, too.